I Hate You
by Justified Wings
Summary: One-shot. Post game. Seifer is nostalgic and Selphie wants to cheer him up. Rated T for Seifer's language. - STxSA


**I Hate You**

God damn it. This whole thing just pisses me off. Why couldn't she find something better to do?! I don't want to be followed around by someone as annoying as her. I don't want to be followed period.

Before the gaze of piercing ice blue eyes a hand lifted to pull back a few blonde strands. He was already miffed to begin with. Having hair in his eyes was only bound to make him angrier. Then again, he wasn't sure if he really could be any angrier than he was at this point. Behind him was a female, small in stature, and yet large when it came to personality. Peering over his shoulder, making sure she was indeed still there, he merely just stared at her for a moment. How could she possibly be so happy?! Argh! That pissed him off too!

His left eyebrow twitched when she gave the happiest smile as though nothing was wrong. Her optimism and bright outlook on everything always made him want to vomit. Trying to regain his composure, he finally turned his posture to face her. Enfolding his arms over his chest, he shot her a look that read nothing but pure, unadulterated disapproval.

"Yeah? What do you want? Stop following me."

Seifer Almasy always had a way with words. Most of the time, it wasn't a good way either. He was rude and arrogant. A cocky bastard, really. She knew how close she was to getting to the truth. Talk about being quite literal. They'd been raised together as children. In fact, they all had, really. Except his ex-girlfriend. Sad, it was, sort of.

Mimicking his actions, Selphie Tilmitt tilted her head to the side, "Whaaaaat? Whyyyyyy?"

Then she pouted before inching closer and giggled at the fact that he was trying to edge away from her. Slipping around behind him, she lifted a hand and pointed over his shoulder at the garden where they had all somehow met together. Since the battle with Ultimecia, everything had returned to normal. Balamb Garden was back near the town itself, and everyone else had really gone to do their own thing.

To be quite honest, Selphie was a little disappointed about everything. Sort of. In a way, things had really worked out to her favour. Squall and Rinoa were off on a vacation to Esthar. Irvine had, after being rejected by every girl in Balamb and the garden, returned to Galbadia to try his luck there. Zell was starting to put on the pounds after indulging in one too many hotdogs. And Quistis was back to being an instructor after proving her worth after countless trials (as though Ultimecia's defeat wasn't trial enough). That left Selphie with all the time in the world and she couldn't think of anything better to do than to bother Seifer. Too bad he wasn't pleased by that.

"Do I really have to give you an answer? Go the fuck away."

At least he didn't sound nearly as angry as he typically did. Seifer was never the type of person to be happy. When he smiled, it was never because he was content. It was usually because he had just bested someone in one way or another. At this particular moment, he looked like he wanted to take Hyperion and blow his brains out. A hand hesitantly rose and he pushed her out of his way. For some odd reason, he thought that by touching her he might have lost his calm sense and would have become just as brainless as she was. In any case, he was headed to the shore between Balamb and the Fire Cavern and he didn't want her tagging along.

Like Selphie ever paid attention. While she never meant to deliberately hurt anyone, she always wanted to make the world a better and brighter place for those around her. Seifer was, no doubt, included in such an ideal. This time was no different from any other. She trailed after him, slipping her hands behind her back. Rather than wanting to make him ultimately irritated, she stayed a safe distance away and every time he turned around to check for her, she hid behind something, whether it was a tree, or a rock, or anything of the sort. In fact, she thought she was doing a good job of being sneaky… until he called her on it.

Sitting in the sand, grey trench coat spread out beneath him, he was leaned forward, as though in a great thoughtful state. That might have explained why he no longer seemed like he was as his normal self would be. The typical Seifer was loud, obnoxious, and angry; not just angry. Straightening his posture for a moment, he appeared to be listening for something. Then he lifted a hand and absent-mindedly coaxed Selphie to come out of hiding.

"Fine. Whatever. What the hell do you want so badly that you're bothering me?" By this time, he just sounded tired.

She'd won! Persistence beat all! That proved once again, that Selphie was the great conqueror when it came to annoying people. If they'd given out an award for such a feat, she would have cluttered her dormitory with those trophies and what not. Creeping towards him, she finally sat down beside him and remained quiet for a few moments. She was wondering if he was going to say anything more. Probably not. He sounded like he was waiting for her to say something. For one of the few times in her life, however, she was okay with not saying anything. It was nice, just to sit there with him.

He could live with that. For the time being, anyway. If she overstayed her "welcome," he'd bark at her to go away. He didn't like sharing his time with anyone. Well, that wasn't entirely the truth. Back when he'd dated Rinoa, he liked spending time with her. That was probably the first time he really liked someone else. Of course, things ended on a most sour note when Squall had swooped in with his artificial intelligence and his poor impersonation of the fascinating blonde himself. Then Rinoa had fallen for him instead. That made him more than angry. Squall was nothing more than a waste of space. Yet, Seifer felt he was forced to move on. He couldn't afford to allow himself to get out of line. Not yet, anyway. If he was going to cause a scene, he wanted it to be big. He wanted even President Laguna Loire to see it all the way in Esthar.

Selphie scooted a little closer to her new companion and peered into his face. When a hand didn't push her away, she knew there was something wrong, "Heeeey, what are you so down about? Most of the time you're just cranky or grumpy, but now you're really, really sad! Why, Seify?"

It was never wrong to be concerned about someone, no matter how they treated other people. After all, Selphie believed that all people were essentially good. It was just harder to pinpoint in some than others.

Seifer wasn't sure what annoyed him more, the fact that Selphie knew there was something wrong, or the fact that he was about to confide in her. Leaning back from her, he tried to wave her farther from him, to which she responded by doing the opposite and squealing happily. Well, there was no going back now. When he was back into spirits, he felt killing her was most appropriate, because then she couldn't tell anyone else what she had learned. Even if she heard, no one else needed to know those things about him.

And while he explained to her how betrayed he felt by both, Rinoa and Squall, she had remained completely silent. When was the last time someone had listened to him so intently? And why was this just showing up now? He could have used it so much sooner before. Better late than never, though. Completing his story, leaving out the unnecessary details, Selphie merely nodded towards him. Then she made an array of faces, wondering what she should or could say that would make things easier for him. She wasn't too used to doing this sort of thing with Seifer, although she'd tried to imagine it several times before.

Then she felt the best way to handle this situation, was to use herself as an example. "You know, Irvine and I were the same way. I mean, that's why he's not here now. Really. If he was here, I'd beating on him so much, because he's retarded!"

She pulled a face at that. Yeah. Things between those two had gotten pretty sour. If Irvine hadn't been completely brainless and actually thought about how she felt once in a blue moon, she might not have minded so much. Such was the way of a man's mind.

Well, at least they were connecting on some point. It was nice. Sort of. Unheard of, but vaguely nice. Honestly, Seifer wasn't sure where to go from there. What more could he possibly say? He didn't really have anything to say now. He'd said it all. He just wanted some time to himself to think. While talking about it might have made him feel better, he still wanted to preoccupy his mind. He wanted to set himself straight. There was no use crying over spilt milk. He previously had hated that phrase, but now, it made all the sense in the world to him. He'd have to do that, but first, he'd have to encourage himself to do that.

When Selphie received a nod from him as a response, she took that as her cue to leave him to his peace. After all, she'd bothered him long enough. Getting him to talk to her was a huge accomplishment. She didn't need to press her luck. Expending the effort to bring herself to her feet, her dainty hands brushed herself off. Then she leaned towards Seifer and ruffled his hair affectionately.

"Heeey, don't get so blue, okay? I'll come talk to you whenever you want! You just got to have a little faith in me. Kinda the same way I have faith in you."

Pulling back from him, she turned her posture from his, looking towards the garden. She'd probably end up going back there.

You have faith in me, huh? Never had that happen before.

Concealing his surprise from her comment, he looked towards her and before she could take off with that little sprint of hers, he spoke up again. "Uh…"

Ah, shit. I'm no good at this stuff.

"Thanks, Tilmitt. I needed that." Then his look upon her hardened. "Don't get me wrong, though. I still fucking hate you."


End file.
